As It Seems
by cwhotchprentissfan
Summary: Beth's reaction to JJ and Will's wedding, and Emily and Hotch's dance. Rating for possible language? Couple of words might be sketchy...
1. Chapter 1

**Ok so I know I haven't added anything in forever and that I have 2 unfinished stories already but I couldn't resist writing this on after that finale. :) I know that with Paget Brewster leaving the show this would never happen but still. I'm definitely a Hotch /Emily dreamer. So here goes.**

**:( No I don't own anything… I guess I'll have to live with that.**

At the end of the night Hotch and Beth walked away from the wedding. It was time to go home. Hotch carried a sleeping Jack in one arm and laced the fingers of his free hand with Beth's. Beth looked up at him in the dim light as they reached the car. Hotch could see the questions in her eyes. He gave her hand a squeeze, "What?" He chuckled and gave a dimpled grin. Beth shook her head and said, "It's nothing."

Hotch buckled his sleeping son into his booster seat, think how great the night had been. He climbed into the car and immediately noticed Beth lost in thought and picking at her nails. He reached over into her lap and stilled her hands. "Beth? Really, what is it? You've been quiet all evening." She just shook her head again as before and gave a half hearted smile. When she didn't answer he started the car and pulled out into what little traffic there was at two in the morning.

When they came to a stop at a red light a few moments later, she finally spoke. "How long?" He looked at her questioningly. When she didn't elaborate he asked, "How long what?" To be honest he was afraid she was asking how long before they get married. Beth finally met his probing, worried eyes. "How long were you and Agent Prentiss together?" Hotch sat at what he realized was the longest red light ever, completely dumbfounded. What would have ever given her that idea? He snapped out of it, realizing the light had changed only when the car behind him honked.

Pulling forward he quickly glanced back at Jack to see that he was still sleeping. "We didn't. Why do you ask?" He chuckled nervously, not sure where she was going with this and not wanting a fight. Beth looked over at him searching to see if he was being honest, taking his nerves to mean he was hiding something she pressed on. "You both seem to be very attached to one another, and I know the team is very close, but it seems different between the two of you. I'm no profiler but you should have seen everyone's faces when you danced with her. I don't care if you dated. I guess I'm just wondering how serious you were."

"Beth, honestly, Emily Prentiss and I have never dated. Never kissed. I might have hugged her once. We work together, she is my subordinate, and I have known her family for a very long time. I just don't see her that way. Hell, we've worked together for the last six years and we rarely even call one another by first names." She sat silently, staring at him during the ride. He ventured a glance at her. Seeing her disbelief, he asked "What?"

"Aaron, you say that you don't see her that way, but the way you look at her. No man looks at a subordinate co-worker that way. You don't look at a friend that way." He glared at his girlfriend for a second, he couldn't control it. He started to speak but she stopped him. "No, don't say anything just yet. Think it through completely. I just want to know one thing. If Emily wasn't your subordinate, would you have? Pursued her?"

He took pause. Would he? There were certainly moments. Had Haley not been his wife when he worked for Emily's mother? Possibly. He was certainly captivated by the young woman he saw only once, as she left for Yale. But even then he was married and he was no cheater and would not even let himself think of Emily that way. When she first came to the team? Still married. When she left the team to protect him? His marriage was in shambles. That day in her apartment when he told her he wanted her with him for one last case, he let himself consider her a good friend for the first time. The more events with her he considered the more he realized he should have seen her that way all along. He didn't know when he started to. He had pushed it aside, in honor of their friendship and their job.

He looked at Beth as they came to another red light. "I…" he didn't know how to phrase what he needed to tell her. "There were times that it seemed we were heading in that direction. But something or someone always changed that. I was attacked, Haley died, Gideon and his girlfriend were attacked, Gideon leaving, hostage situations, her leaving. We never let ourselves truly consider it."

"Her leaving? Why did she leave?" Beth was genuinely curious. She had heard mention of her return before, but not in detail. Hotch sighed, it wasn't his story to tell. "She didn't leave by choice. Technically, for seven months, Emily Prentiss was dead." Beth gasped. "Obviously she wasn't really dead, but JJ and I, we had to make it seem that way. And when you suddenly lose all contact with someone you are that close to, it still causes you to grieve. And as much as it hurt us to know, we couldn't share it with anyone else because she was in danger and may have never gotten to come back. Dave suspected I believe but we never confirmed it for him. When we got to her Morgan found her first. She was impaled with a table leg and asked him to let her go. Believe me we wanted to tell the team, but it just wasn't safe. If Garcia had known and tried to find her, it would have blown her cover completely. Even the Ambassador didn't know she was alive. It was better that we told them she never made it off the table and made her disappear."

Beth realized when his feelings toward his agent changed. "Why did she have to disappear, Aaron?" Hotch sighed, "A very bad man she helped put away was hunting her down. He thought he'd killed her with that table leg. I wish she had come to me and told me what was happening, but she chose to confront him on her own to protect the team and our families. He threatened all of us if she told us anything. She tried to take him out but he almost took her instead." She didn't think Hotch realized how much emotion he was showing. He was too much in his own head. "I've been there I know why she did what she did to protect her version of family." Beth's face shot up to his, "You've been in that much danger?" Hotch parked the car and said, "Yes, that's how we lost Haley. Why I couldn't let Jack lose Emily too."

Beth suddenly looked confused. "What do you mean lose Emily too? They didn't seem all that close to me."

"Things aren't always what they seem. Emily was there for us when I was attacked, and again when Haley died. She and Dave helped us pack up the house, took turns staying with us. She helped me realize I did everything within my power to keep my family safe. And that sometimes no matter what, it's just not enough. Sometimes the darkness finds us anyway. Jack would get mad at me because I couldn't do something the way Haley did. Emily would try but he would get mad and yell that she isn't his mommy." Hotch chuckled lightly. "He would through a full tantrum and cry and scream and kick and Emily would sit down in front of him and pull him into her lap and hold him till he quieted. He always apologized after and fell asleep on her. I asked her how she knew what to do and she said he's not the first little boy she knows who lost a parent. I didn't realize till she got back what she meant. The man who hurt her had a son and wanted her to raise the boy but she couldn't and it still eats at her now. Emily and Jack's relationship is strained right now but seeing all that has happened, it will just take time. Emily is part of the family and she takes her roll seriously"

Beth was realizing what she had to do but she was mesmerized by how her boyfriend talked about the other woman. She hoped one day someone would talk about her that way. "So what is her role?" Hotch chuckled again at her curiosity, he had a feeling this was the worlds strangest break up ever. "She is the daughter Dave never had, the sister Garcia and JJ needed, she almost mothers Reid and I swear she is Morgan's dream woman." He finished with a laugh. Beth looked at him waiting for more. "You left out yourself. What is she to you?" Hotch hadn't ever thought about it before. "She's Emily." He took note of Beth's blank look. "She is what she is. She's Emily. She was the last to join the team, but she is the glue that holds us all together."

Hotch got out of the car and opened Beth's door. As she got out a lone tear slid down her face. Hotch tipped her chin up and wiped the tear away with the pad of his thumb. "What is it Beth?" He searched her face trying to see what she was thinking. She spoke after meeting his eyes. "I just hope that someday I can mean to a group of people what Emily Prentiss means to your team. And that I'll find a man someday who looks at me the way you look at her." She reached up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. Stepping away, she took his hand. "Don't wait too long to tell her. I have a feeling that she is looking for a reason to stay. Tell Jack bye for me." And with that, Beth walked away from the best man she had ever met.

**Ok so I don't like to ask but there is this lovely blue review button down there and I would love some feedback. Should I continue? **


	2. Chapter 2

**Alrighty y'all, sorry it took so long, I have had a rough summer. Lol and it ain't over yet. Add in the severe writers block and thus you gets no updates. **

Emily watched Hotch and Beth leave the wedding hand in hand and her heart sank. She found it odd how quiet the woman had been all evening and noticed how it worsened after she had danced with Hotch. She thought back on the brief dance and wished it had lasted longer.

_"So you and Aaron have gotten close lately." Dave said as he twirled her around the dance floor. "Yeah, I guess. He's been a good friend since I've been back. I needed that." Dave chuckled at her response, "And just how does his new girlfriend feel about that?" She frowned at Dave but found his mischievous grin contagious. "I wouldn't know. She has hardly spoken to anyone this evening, and what exactly are you getting at Rossi?" She asked with false anger. "Hotch is my boss, and they seem to be perfectly happy together." Dave looked up to see Hotch approaching and whispered, "Well speak of the devil."_

_ As Hotch pulled Emily away from his long time friend he said "Hey Dave, You and Morgan can't monopolize Emily all evening." Emily laughed along with him and noticed the 'I told you so' look Dave threw her as he bowed off the floor. Emily also noticed the looks they were receiving from the rest of the team and several other guests as they moved about the floor. "What are you thinking about so hard Emily?" His question pulled her from her thoughts as he pulled her in closer to his body. She simply smiled and said, "Nothing." shaking her head slightly as she chewed her lip. He chuckled at her 'tell' as he called it earlier, "I take it we will discuss it tomorrow as well?" She pulled back slightly to see his face and they shared a knowing smile at his joke. He once again pulled her against him tightly as if he were afraid she would disappear until they were cheek to check. She breathed in his scent and laid her head on his shoulder just as she had Morgan. She will miss this recent closeness when she is 3700 miles away in London._

Emily was pulled from her reverie as JJ approached. JJ had been watching her friend watch their unit chief leave with a sad look on her face. "Em? You ok?" Emily turned to the bride with a smile, "Yeah just tired I guess. I think I'm gonna head home." JJ hugged her friend and smiled. "Just be careful. And get some rest. Thank you again for everything. Say bye to Will before you go?" Emily just squeezed her friend tightly and nodded. After making the rounds she drove home; still replaying the dance in her head over and over again.

Just as she was crawling into bed she received a text. She picked up her phone showing Hotch's smiling face. "Coffee. Tryst. 7:00?" Emily sent back " " She wasn't expecting the next text in the least. "Goodnight Emily. I hope you sleep well." She smiled as she drifted off to sleep, two 'Emilys' in one night.


End file.
